Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, last week I attended meetings in Ottawa with federal Cabinet Ministers along with the Premier, Mr. Krutko, and NWT Chamber of Commerce president, Kelly Hayden. I would like to thank the Premier for inviting me to attend these meetings with him.

I was happy to help in the pitch to the feds for a share of the $2.2 billion strategic infrastructure fund. I was pleased with the reception we have received -- pleased to hear that the fund has not yet been committed and that we are still in the running for some of the money.

Our pitch was well-received. It was gratifying to see the Ministers we met move from wariness, almost saying, "Now what do these guys want?" to what appeared to be genuine interest when we outlined the economic benefits that accrue across Canada from non-renewable resource development in the Northwest Territories.

As Members here know all too well, almost all of the taxes and royalties from oil and gas and mining development flow directly to federal coffers. Alluding to that, Mr. Hayden had a particularly catchy line for the Ministers he met when he answered the question of why we were looking for money for roads and bridges. His response was, "We want to make it easier for trucks to get to northern resources so they can come back full of money for the federal government." Mr. Speaker, that garnered some interest, I can assure you.

Mr. Speaker, we did not come back with a signed cheque, but I was pleased that we had at least one Minister who explicitly said he would support our application for funding, and others expressed support. I guess only time will tell, but I certainly hope that the federal government really does see the value of getting those trucks north so they can help fill our new Finance Minister's coffers for the benefit of all Canadians. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause